The Yellow Door marks landmark 2023 with incredible fundraiser for Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke and the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children

The Yellow Door is well known throughout Ireland for wedding and event catering, corporate hospitality, its artisan bakery and café deli coffee shops.

To mark the landmark occasion of the company’s 30th anniversary in 2023, a black tie gala event was held in Belfast City Hall, attended by their suppliers, customers, business associates and old colleagues.

The event raised awareness of two local charities close to the hearts of the company directors, Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke and the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children with an amazing £34,024.34 being raised and with a total of £17,012.17 going to each charity.

Simon Dougan, managing director of Yellow Door, Portadown said, “We have been very lucky over the years to have built a good reputation in the hospitality sector with the help of a great team and the support of our valued suppliers. It was great to showcase our wonderful food at this special milestone event in our company history.

"We were blown away by the amount of money raised on the evening and would like to sincerely thank all our friends, suppliers and customers who so generously donated.”

Andrew Dougan, managing director of Yellow Door Belfast said, “Like lots of families, the wider Yellow Door family has been touched by the devasting effects of cancer, heart disease and stroke. We are all absolutely delighted at the generosity of our guests during our recent 30-year celebration. We hope money raised can help in some small way.”

Jackie Trainor, director of income generation at Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke (NICHS) said, “We are so grateful to receive this wonderful donation from Yellow Door’s celebration event and would like to thank them and everyone who donated so generously.

"As Andrew said, so many families across Northern Ireland are affected by chest, heart and stroke illnesses and NICHS is here to help through our life changing care and prevention services and research projects. Almost 90 per cent of our income comes from public donations so fundraising efforts like this are vital for our charity and what we can achieve.”

Philip Annett, from Portadown, knows exactly how important the work of NICHS is to people who have been affected by a life-changing illness after he had a sudden stroke in October last year.

Philip explained: “I was only in my forties when I had my stroke. NICHS’s Post Rehab Exercise Programme really helped me. When I first went, I was thinking, if I do too much will I have another stroke? Having that reassurance from the NICHS team was key. They gave you that gentle push along, or the tough love with a smile on their face, when you needed it.

"The follow up on a personal level was so important – to have people that were interested in you, the level of progress you were making, and where you could get to was so important. The NICHS team are bright, positive, and willing to listen.”